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Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
How Henry Mount Charles brought Dylan, Springsteen and The Rolling Stones to a former rock'n'roll backwater
When Henry Mount Charles , who died on June 18th at the age of 74, first reframed his ancestral home of Slane Castle as a signature rock venue in 1981, it must have been more in hope than expectation. Ireland was then a rock'n'roll backwater rarely included on the touring schedule of the big international acts of the day, as it had a severe shortage of decent-sized venues. The backdrop of violence and the hunger strikes in the North did not help, but the Republic had succeeded in making itself a dispiriting place on its own. Fintan O'Toole, in his book We Don't Know Ourselves , outlined the grim picture. 'The number of unemployed people had doubled over the course of the 1970s. Mass emigration was back. There was a balance of payments crisis and government debt was out of control ... The whole project of making Ireland a normal Western European country was in deep trouble.' Yet there must have been some optimism in the music business, as in 1981 Slane had to compete with music festivals in Macroom, Co Cork, Ballisodare, Co Sligo, Castlebar, Co Mayo, and Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare. Most of those events were headlined by Irish acts, however – as indeed was Slane. Thin Lizzy were nearing the end of their career at the top, but supporting them that day in August was a four-piece on the rise from Dublin: U2 . READ MORE Although only about 25,000 people attended the first Slane concert, its success paved the way for future events and for Henry Mount Charles' emergence as a public figure of note. Slane's natural amphitheatre could safely accommodate numbers much greater than the modest first event. In addition, it was near Dublin and could be reached by bus or car in a relatively short time. [ Henry Mount Charles: A Lord in Slane – The strange blend of fact and fiction around one of the last Anglo-Irish eccentrics Opens in new window ] Rock music is a business. The bigger the audience, the easier it is to attract leading acts. Pay them the money and they will come. And so it proved, with the likes of The Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen happy to park their caravans down by the Boyne. Springsteen's concert in front of an estimated 65,000 fans marked an important shift in his career: it was the first time he and the E Street Band played in front of a stadium-sized outdoor audience. It would be the first of many lucrative concerts. As the profile of Slane grew, Mount Charles lapped it up. Although concerts were generally partnerships with the likes of MCD Productions and Aiken Promotions , Henry was the public face of the event. He was no less a performer than those artists he welcomed to Slane. Concert days were celebrated in high style with the great and the good in the castle. [ Foo Fighters, Oasis, U2, the Rolling Stones and more: Slane's 15 greatest acts – in reverse order Opens in new window ] He was keenly aware of the value of good publicity and no slouch when in search of it. The money generated by the concerts was a windfall of sorts, but, crucially, it allowed him to underpin the finances of the castle and its grounds, developing other projects, such as the Slane whiskey brand , and helping to provide the resources to overcome setbacks such as the fire of 1991. Although a very public personality, the young Henry Mount Charles – he was in his early 30s in 1981 – was good and genial company, interested in the world beyond his castle walls and indeed beyond his elite social milieu. Embracing the rock'n'roll world afforded him the opportunity to experience the thrill of meeting great artists and celebrities while banking enough to retain and maintain his beloved Slane Castle for future generations. That concert idea was good fortune indeed. Joe Breen wrote about rock music for The Irish Times from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
EuroMillions winner comes forward to claim £208m jackpot
A record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot winner from Ireland has officially come forward to claim their prize, a spokeswoman for The National Lottery has confirmed. The winner, who purchased the ticket in a retail outlet in Co Cork, has scooped an astonishing €250 million and marks the largest ever EuroMillions win in Irish history. This is also the 18th time the jackpot has been claimed by an Irish player. The winning numbers from Tuesday's draw were 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49, with lucky stars 3 and 5. Earlier in the week, Cian Murphy, chief executive of the Irish National Lottery, had offered advice to the then-unidentified winner, urging them to "stay calm" as the "massive" win could come as a shock. The €250 million sum, equivalent to approximately £208 million, represents the maximum possible EuroMillions jackpot, which is capped once it reaches this monumental figure. This jackpot reached the maximum amount on 6 June after rolling over several times. In total, more than 92,000 players in Ireland won prizes in the EuroMillions and Plus games. The last Irish winner of the EuroMillions jackpot was in February 2022, when a person won 30.9 million euro with a quick pick ticket they purchased at a service station in Ballina, Co Tipperary.
Irish Times
06-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
How was Tina Satchwell left in a makeshift grave under the stairs for more than six years?
Six-and-a-half years is an unconscionably long time for a body to lie in a makeshift grave, buried just under the stairs of her own home, awaiting discovery. One week ago, after more than four weeks of testimony and nine hours of deliberation, a Central Criminal Court jury found Richard Satchwell guilty of the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell , or Tina Dingivan as her family know her . On Wednesday, he was sentenced to life in prison . The 58-year-old intends to appeal. Her sister, Lorraine Howard, said Satchwell secretly hid his murdered wife under the stairs of their home where he could have 'ultimate control' over her. For now, just one question remains: why did it take so long for gardaí to find Tina Satchwell's remains? In March 2017, Tina Satchwell, then aged 45, joined the ranks of Ireland's missing persons. Satchwell reported her disappearance to An Garda Síochána on March 24th. It was four days after he claimed to have last seen her, but he said he had no concerns for her welfare. READ MORE In May that year, after gardaí visited him at home, he filed a formal missing person report. He claimed that she had upped and left him without so much as a letter. Also left behind: her mobile phone, her keys, her two beloved dogs. Gardaí were reportedly 'perplexed' by her disappearance. She did not have a passport. There was no evidence that she had departed Co Cork by car, ferry, bus, or plane. She had no prior history of leaving. Still, they waited until June 7th to conduct a preliminary search of the Satchwell home. They discovered unfinished home improvement works under way. But when that search failed to turn up forensic evidence such as blood spatters or a body stuffed in a freezer, the investigation appears to have stalled. [ Tina Satchwell case: Questions raised by politicians over original Garda investigation ] Finally, after a change in the investigating team, gardaí conducted an invasive search that included a cadaver dog in October 2023. The dog solved the mystery of Tina's purported vanishing: she had never made it out of her home alive. I remember the earliest media accounts of Tina Satchwell's disappearance. I was living in Dublin on a research sabbatical at University College Dublin and studying Irish criminal justice policies. At the outset, this case tugged at me. I am a criminologist with research expertise in gender violence. At every stage of life, women and girls who are reported missing are at much greater risk of homicide than men and boys. A recent study of femicides in Ireland reveals that more than half were killed by a person they knew. In most cases, their murderers were their husbands, boyfriends or ex-partners. These are often the same people who call gardaí to report them missing. Satchwell's trial heard from Dr Niamh McCullagh, a specialist in the search and recovery of human remains concealed in a criminal context . She said that 'for all concealed homicide cases that have been studied in Ireland, victims are disposed of within one kilometre of their home address in the majority of cases'. Law enforcement delays and missteps are regrettably common in cases of missing women. Missing person cases are, in general, time-consuming, expensive and emotionally draining. In the year that Satchwell murdered Tina, An Garda Síochána investigated more than 9,500 missing persons reports. To their credit, they solved all but 36 within the year. Tina's disappearance should have been one of them. Research by Bernadette Manifold, a forensic scientist who studies femicide and long-term missing women in Ireland, found that many femicide cases were initially reported as missing persons to the police and that women who go missing have a greater risk of being a victim of homicide. Gender bias often manifests in cases involving intimate and domestic partner violence and sexual assault. In some instances, gender bias gives rise to victim-blaming and denialism. And so reports of violence and abuse in the home may be downgraded. Emergency calls concerning domestic abuse are cancelled and not recorded. In the context of missing persons, investigators may miss red flags and discount the odds of foul play. Gender bias renders men's explanations – even far-fetched explanations – credible. Tina Satchwell's disappearance was littered with red flags. Criminological research identifies several factors to help investigators determine the risk that a missing woman may be the victim of murder. Her case encompassed every single one of those factors. First, did an argument or fight precede the disappearance? Was there a history of violence in the relationship? Check and check. Second, was the last person to see the victim alive an intimate partner? Check. Third, were there delays in reporting the person missing? Check. Fourth, were there inconsistencies in accounts of the disappearance? Check. Fifth, did the missing person leave behind essential items such as a mobile phone and wallet? Check. Three red flags were present at the beginning. Satchwell was the last person to see Tina alive. He delayed contacting gardaí and her family. She left behind her phone and identification card. In the days and weeks that followed, additional flags emerged. Richard revealed that their marriage was on the rocks and that Tina left to 'clear her head'. Discrepancies crept into his statements to gardaí and the media. He suggested their relationship was punctuated by episodes of violence (in his telling, she was always the perpetrator). In his final rendering, he suggested that he killed Tina in self-defence after she charged at him with a chisel. Red flags don't make a person guilty of murder, but these do make it incumbent on investigators to treat a disappearance with utmost urgency. As An Garda Síochána's policy manual on missing persons states, 'it is easier to rein back from the early stages of a big investigation, than recover missed opportunities'. The missed opportunities in this case are glaringly obvious. The search of the Satchwell home in Youghal, Co Cork, should have been conducted in late March 2017, immediately following Satchwell's initial report of Tina's disappearance. That search should have included a cadaver dog. The home improvement works, as well as Richard's far-flung accounts of monkeys for sale, deceased parrots, undiagnosed psychiatric disorders and missing €26,000 should have immediately raised the eyebrows of gardaí. While a thorough and expedient investigation into her disappearance would not have saved Tina Satchwell, improved policing practices that incorporate what we know about gender-based violence, and are informed by criminological research, may spare other women and girls from a similar fate. Dr Jill McCorkel is professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Villanova University, Pennsylvania. She is founder and executive director of Philadelphia Justice Project for Women and Girls
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Richard Satchwell sentenced to life in prison for murder of his wife Tina Satchwell
Richard Satchwell , who was found guilty last week of the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell , has been sentenced to life in prison. Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced Satchwell at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday morning. After sentencing Richard Satchwell's legal team said that he intended to appeal the verdict. Ms Satchwell's skeletal remains were found in a deep grave in an area under the stairs of the couple's Co Cork home in October 2023, more than six years after her husband reported her missing. READ MORE Satchwell (58), a lorry driver, had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 45-year-old at Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th, 2017. He claimed his wife had left him, taking their savings. After the remains were uncovered during a forensic excavation, Satchwell had claimed that his wife flew at him with a chisel on the morning of March 20th, 2017, and, during a struggle, went 'limp' and died. He said he put her body on a couch, then in a chest freezer and, on March 26th, buried her under the stairs. He was convicted of his wife's murder last Friday by unanimous verdict of the jury of seven women and five men, following more than nine hours of deliberation. Lawyers for Satchwell had unsuccessfully tried to have the murder charge against him withdrawn and substituted with manslaughter in the fourth week of the trial. Mr Justice Paul McDermott rejected arguments from Satchwell's defence team – made at the end of the evidence and in the absence of the jury – there was no evidence on which the jury could safely find Satchwell had the necessary legal intention for murder, to kill or cause serious injury to his wife, Tina . That was 'a huge lacuna' in the prosecution case, defence counsel Brendan Grehan argued. Tina Satchwell's family previously made a statement outside court, and said that Tina was 'portrayed in a way that is not true to who she was'. Tina's cousin, Sarah Howard said: 'Tina was our precious sister, cousin, auntie and daughter. Her presence in our lives meant so much to us all. We as a family can never put into words the impact her loss has had on us.'
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Richard Satchwell: Sentencing hearing under way for murder of wife Tina
A sentencing hearing of Richard Satchwell who was found guilty last week of the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell is under way at the Central Criminal Court . Ms Satchwell's skeletal remains were found in a deep grave in an area under the stairs of the couple's Co Cork home in October 2023, more than six years after her husband reported her missing. Satchwell (58), a lorry driver, had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 45-year-old at Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th, 2017. He claimed his wife had left him, taking their savings. After the remains were uncovered during a forensic excavation, Satchwell had claimed that his wife flew at him with a chisel on the morning of March 20th, 2017, and, during a struggle, went 'limp' and died. He said he put her body on a couch, then in a chest freezer and, on March 26th, buried her under the stairs. READ MORE He was convicted of his wife's murder last Friday by unanimous verdict of the jury of seven women and five men, following more than nine hours of deliberation. Lawyers for Satchwell had unsuccessfully tried to have the murder charge against him withdrawn and substituted with manslaughter in the fourth week of the trial. Mr Justice Paul McDermott rejected arguments from Satchwell's defence team – made at the end of the evidence and in the absence of the jury – there was no evidence on which the jury could safely find Satchwell had the necessary legal intention for murder, to kill or cause serious injury to his wife, Tina . That was 'a huge lacuna' in the prosecution case, defence counsel Brendan Grehan argued. Tina Satchwell's family previously made a statement outside court, and said that Tina was 'portrayed in a way that is not true to who she was'. Tina's cousin, Sarah Howard said: 'Tina was our precious sister, cousin, auntie and daughter. Her presence in our lives meant so much to us all. We as a family can never put into words the impact her loss has had on us.'
